Many people injured as passengers in car accidents assume they cannot make a compensation claim — or worry that claiming against a driver they know personally will cause conflict. In reality, passengers in NSW have some of the strongest rights of any injured person in the motor accident scheme. Because passengers are almost never at fault for an accident, they typically have access to the full range of statutory benefits and common law damages under the NSW CTP scheme. This article explains your rights as an injured passenger and how to claim what you are entitled to.
The NSW Compulsory Third Party (CTP) scheme covers any person injured in a motor vehicle accident — including passengers. Whether you were sitting in the front seat or the back, in a car, a van, a motorcycle sidecar, or a rideshare vehicle, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation if you were injured. Your status as a passenger does not reduce your rights. In fact, because passengers are almost never found to be at fault for accidents, you are often in the strongest possible position to claim the full range of available compensation.
If you were a passenger in Vehicle A, and Vehicle B caused the accident, your claim is made against the CTP insurer of Vehicle B. Every registered vehicle in NSW must have CTP insurance attached to its Green Slip. The claim goes to the insurer — not to the individual driver personally.
If the driver of the vehicle you were travelling in caused the accident, you can still make a claim — against their CTP insurer. It does not matter whether the driver was a friend, a family member, a work colleague, or a stranger. Many passengers feel uncomfortable making a claim against someone they know. However, it is critically important to understand that the driver does not pay compensation out of their own pocket. Their CTP insurer — the insurance company — is responsible for your compensation. Making a claim is simply using the insurance that exists for exactly this purpose.
If both vehicles contributed to causing the accident, you as a passenger can still claim in full. The CTP insurers of both vehicles will determine the apportionment of liability between themselves — this process is handled between the insurers and does not reduce your entitlement as an innocent passenger. You are not penalised for anyone else’s negligence.
If the vehicle that caused the accident was unregistered (and therefore had no CTP insurance), or if the at-fault driver fled the scene and cannot be identified, you can still make a claim through the Nominal Defendant — a government body established specifically to provide compensation in these situations. The Nominal Defendant stands in place of the absent insurer. There are strict time limits for Nominal Defendant claims, so act quickly.
Passengers injured in Uber, Didi, Ola, or other rideshare vehicles, or in licensed taxis, are also entitled to make a CTP claim. All rideshare and taxi vehicles must be registered, and their registration must include valid CTP insurance. The same rules apply: if the rideshare driver was at fault, you claim against their CTP insurer. If another vehicle caused the accident, you claim against that vehicle’s CTP insurer.
Rideshare platforms like Uber maintain separate insurance policies for accidents occurring during trips. In some cases, both the rideshare company’s policy and the driver’s CTP insurance may be relevant. A specialist motor vehicle accident lawyer can clarify which insurer to pursue and what coverage applies.
If you were injured as a passenger on a bus — whether a private bus service, school bus, or Transport NSW bus — and the accident was caused by the bus driver’s negligence (or another driver’s negligence), you can make a CTP claim against the relevant CTP insurer. All buses are registered motor vehicles and carry CTP insurance.
Compensation for injuries sustained on trains and ferries follows a different legal pathway, as these are not motor vehicles for CTP purposes. If you were injured on a train or ferry due to negligence in the operation of that service, you may have a claim under general negligence principles against the transport operator. Legal advice is strongly recommended in these circumstances.
As a passenger, you are entitled to the full range of CTP statutory benefits for the first 52 weeks following the accident. These include:
These benefits are available to you regardless of which driver was at fault, and regardless of any dispute about fault between the drivers.
Because passengers are almost never at fault for accidents, most injured passengers who have suffered serious injuries will be eligible for common law damages. To access this lump sum compensation, your injuries must be assessed as resulting in a Whole Person Impairment (WPI) greater than 10%. If that threshold is met, you may be entitled to:
For passengers with serious and permanent injuries, common law damages can be very substantial.
This is the most common reason passengers delay or abandon valid claims. The discomfort is understandable — but the concern is based on a misunderstanding of how CTP insurance works.
Your claim is made against an insurance company. The driver — your friend, family member, or colleague — does not pay anything out of their own pocket. CTP insurance exists precisely so that injured people can be compensated without placing financial burden on individual drivers. In almost all cases, a driver whose CTP insurer pays out a claim experiences no personal financial consequence.
Making a claim is not an act of aggression toward the driver. It is simply accessing the insurance protection that the law requires every driver to carry. Delaying or declining to claim does not help the driver — it only hurts you.